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nineinchnails's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Chronic illness and Terminal illness
Moderate: Child death, Death, Grief, Abandonment, and Classism
Minor: Bullying
acemummerz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Chronic illness
Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Grief, Abandonment, and Classism
rebcamuse's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
The book muses upon faith, hope, and love. Klara's faith in the sun is based in hope, but also pragmatic observation and an innocent sense of causation. Josie's mother is hopeful about love, yet lacks faith. Ricky, Josie's pragmatic and "unlifted" friend, perhaps has the strongest faith in Klara as he is able to assist her without really knowing why. Josie is the most human of characters in her determination and courage, but also in her code-switching and mercurial teenagery-ness. Josie's father is a skeptical engineer, but he too has to take a leap of faith in Klara, for the love of Josie.
Ishiguro does not give us all the details. The AFs get only a store as a backstory context. We know there are the lifted and the unlifted children, but we only see the ramifications of that status, not the details regarding how it happens. In this sense, Ricky is one of the most interesting characters in that he represents the folly of societal categories (one is reminded of Dr. Seuss's Sneetches with the stars, and those without stars), as he's clearly one of the most intelligent characters in the novel.
Another lesson from Klara --if only we were all be able to carry the images of our memories and recall them to inform our present understanding. We do, actually, of course, but Ishiguro paints the process slowly and truly through Klara, inviting us to think about our own intentionality and how often we dismiss or suppress our memories because we are not just mere data collectors, but data manipulators.
The ending pushed this away from five stars for me...it felt too much like a saccharine epilogue. We get an explanation of Klara's REAL lesson from the store manager and it all smacked a bit too much of a Care Bears animated special for my taste. I found myself frustrated that the manager herself doesn't get much of a backstory, but Ishiguro has a way of making you accept what he gives you, despite your own desires. In her New York Times Review in 2021, Radhika Jones gets it:
"'Still, when Klara says, "I have my memories to go through and place in the right order," it strikes the quintessential Ishiguro chord. So what if a machine says it? There's no narrative instinct more essential, or more human."
Graphic: Chronic illness and Mental illness
Moderate: Child death and Death
333amreen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abandonment, and Classism
kellyisntcool's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, and Medical content
Minor: Death
theraindiary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, and Death
river_jean_sterling's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Minor: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, and Grief
begumisu's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.25
Graphic: Chronic illness and Death
dsalazar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Moderate: Chronic illness
Minor: Death and Grief
pil4r's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
En esta novela, Klara, una suerte de inteligencia artificial/robot diseñada para acompañar adolescencias, se conforma cono una voz destacable y original. A través de ella, conocemos este universo ¿distópico? ¿futuro? pero, a su vez, conocemos y revisitamos lo humano, como si fuese la primera vez.
Ishiguro usa -maravillosamente- la ciencia ficción/ficción especulativa para plantear preguntas sobre la ética, la tecnología y las clases sociales pero, principalmente, para articular sobre lo humano, el amor y sus límites, medidas y complejidades inherentes.
La premisa es super interesante y la escritura fluída y, aunque a veces con un ritmo un poco lento y dejando bastante lugar al lector para elaborar algunos puntos del final, Klara y el Sol cumple.
Recomiendo para todxs mis amigxs amantes de las distopías y con mundos internos con predilección por las discusiones sobre el amor, el dolor y la ética.
Espero volver a cruzarme a este autor pronto y, especialmente, a sus trabajos de ciencia ficción.
Moderate: Death